Common Mistakes to Avoid After a Car Accident: Why You Need a Car Accident Lawyer

It’s not universally acknowledged, but even minor fumbles post-car accidents can send ripples through your case. A range of snares lie in wait—even uttering the wrong phrase to the boys in blue or chit-chatting with an insurance maven could spin your narrative sideways, potentially throwing a wrench in your pursuit of due recompense for any injuries sustained. Allow these legal eagles from Kansas City, MO—Kansas City car accident lawyer—to furnish you with some shrewd guidance.

When Kansas City’s roads deal you a bad hand with a vehicular mishap, it’s crucial to hold fast to a responsible code of conduct that’s in lockstep with state statutes. Our impulses may veer toward the chaotic in such high-stress moments, triggering actions we might rue at our leisure. Presented here are a few gaffes commonly committed in the wake of a motoring tumult:

Consult an Experienced Kansas City Car Accident Attorney First

Tackling the serpentine legal system solo? Yearning for the savvy of a battle-tested counselor to aid in recouping your losses tied to injury expenses? RoyceInjury operation has amassed upwards of half a billion dollars on the behalf of our harmed clientele nationwide, and we stand poised to marshal our resolve in securing the fullest reparation your case merits.

Initiate a Call to 911

Bypassing a 911 call post-collision, under the belief that it’s a trifling matter, could backfire. Foregoing that call eliminates a credentialed record of the fracas. The lack of such could well serve to obliterate your ability to establish your innocence or contest fault later. Moreover, without this call, your insurance outfit might get a whiff of deceit or even conjure up notions of fraud.

Stay at the Scene

Our gut reaction might scream ‘flee’ if we collide, yet succumbing to that urge spells unequivocal error. The decree is clear: stick around post-accident. The law brooks no defense for bolting. If you find yourself in a tangle with another vehicle, pedestrian, or property, you’re duty-bound to stay put until the dust settles and matters are suitably addressed.

Choosing to exit stage left can saddle you with hit-and-run charges, notwithstanding blamelessness on your part. It’s pivotal to grasp that hit-and-run repercussions can be no small beer—think potential jail time or hefty fines. You gamble not only with your driving privileges but also with a substantial slice of your bankroll.

Yet, the rule does bend a smidge. Say you jostle a parked ride and the owner’s nowhere to be found; the statute permits departure post-haste on one condition: you must leave a note with your details and a brief incident report.

Further, it’s incumbent upon you to brief local law enforcement in person or via the horn. These are the sorts of proactive measures one ought to take as insurance against potential legal pursuit by the other party.

Get All the Information From the Other Driver

When the unexpected occurs, and you’re tangled up in a car crash, it’s pretty common for nerves to skyrocket and stress levels to go through the roof. In the midst of that high-tension snapshot in time, there’s a real risk you might just let crucial information slip through your fingers, like the other driver’s address, the nitty-gritty of their insurance details, or that essential snapshot of their license.

Whatever you do, don’t let that happen! At a minimum, you ought to snag the full names of not only the person behind the other wheel but every single soul in that car, jot down the digits on the license plate, and zero in on the insurance policy they’re carting around.

And hey, don’t skip out on the specifics either – the make and model of their ride, the state that issued their license plate. If there are folks peering over who saw the whole thing go down, reel in their deets too, and if the boys and girls in blue make their grand entrance, scribble down everything from their names to their badge numbers and how you can buzz them later. You never can tell when you’ll need to drag out this info.

Collect Photo Evidence

Now, whip out that smartphone – you know, the one that practically lives in your hand – and put that camera to work. If you’re wrapped up in a roadway run-in, you better be snapping pics of the pitch from every conceivable angle.

Get the banged-up buggies, any scruffs or scrapes on the cars or the crew involved, the layout of the locale – the whole nine yards, including subtle clues like tire tread marks or that stoplight smirking overhead. A fat stack of photos could be a golden ticket when it comes time for an auto accident attorney to swoop in on your behalf.

Medical Help

Talking about what comes next, it seems like folks usually shrug off the idea of medical attention after a smash-up, unless they’re visibly banged up something fierce. Often, it takes a span of days before they’re hopping on the phone to book face time with their doc, grumbling about an achy back or a cricked neck.

Big error, my friends. Right after the metal-on-metal serenade, you might reckon you’re as fit as a fiddle, but here’s the thing – injuries can be like secret agents, lurking unseen. So, do yourself a solid and scamper over to a doctor, pronto, on that very same day.

If you pass up that trip to the clinic, with no paperwork to vouch for the bumps and bruises, the aftermath, or the aches troubling you post-crash, waving goodbye to any hope for an injury claim could be your next move.

Buckle up, because insurance adjusters are no joke – they’re like hawks, eyeballing every detail. Show up out of the blue, nursing neck woes weeks after your fender-bender, and they’re more likely to scoff than sympathize.

While you’re making yourself comfy in the ER, spill the beans to the doc. Lay it all out – every last twinge and tweak. Even the slightest whisper of discomfort is a piece of the puzzle that could end up tipping the scales in a legal tussle down the line.

Notify Your Insurance Company

If you find yourself caught up in a crash that wasn’t your doing, it’s pretty standard to feel a mix of relief and exhilaration as soon as the call comes in from the at-fault party’s insurer, dangling a settlement in front of you. The golden rule here? Take a beat and pepper them with questions. It’s crystal clear that the insurer’s aim is to wrap this up neatly with as little financial dent as possible.

So make sure you’re crystal clear on the terms you’re nodding along to regarding your claim. It’s crucial to have your vehicle undergo a thorough once-over for damages by an unbiased pro—this way you’ll know whether the repair bill’s gonna match what they’re offering.

And here’s another nugget to chew on: dodging the lure of a one-time cash drop for injuries is good form. Have a chat with a car accident attorney first because, sometimes, those bumps and bruises can turn out to be a bigger deal than you pegged them for, and you might be sitting on a pot of compensation gold that’s heftier than your first estimate.

Keep this at the forefront, alright? Car mishaps, be they tiny tangles or colossal crunches, come with a truckload of what-ifs and maybes that you’ve got to steer through. At RoyceInjury, we’re all about ensuring our clients aren’t shortchanged on the compensation front for any personal setbacks, harm, or wreckage they’ve weathered from their automotive rough patch. Buzz us for a powwow, and we’ll roll up our sleeves to help you secure every dime you’re due.

Legal Guidance on Deck

The second your ride takes a hit, the clock starts ticking—a fact not lost on us. There’s this window where you’ve got to hit the ground running, scooping up details and proof from the accident spot. The same goes for roping in ace car accident counselors.

Hesitation in giving a pro car wreck lawyer a shout leaves the other side with all the time in the world to cobble together their version of events, which, let’s be real, might put the squeeze on what you should get from the Kansas City car crash kerfuffle.

Kansas City Car Accident Statistics

Throughout 2020, Kansas City was rocked by a startling toll of 126 pedestrian lives claimed on the roads. Fast-forward to 2021, and the narrative took a worrying turn, with over 5,000 vehicular mishaps shaking the city’s streets merely within the year’s opening quintet of months.

Come March 2022, the Kansas City Police Department bore the somber task of announcing that 21 souls had been taken prematurely due to vehicular tragedies. Delving deeper into the year’s sobering data, it emerges that the city’s highways had been the stage for a staggering 1,552 smashups, according to the department’s detailed accounting.

Consequently, the cream of Kansas City’s legal experts, especially those specializing in the aftermath of car wrecks, unanimously champion a rigorous commitment to time-tested safety practices. This unified legal front underscores the vital importance of minimizing one’s own lapses on the road to ensure that, should the unfortunate occur, any fault that could be placed at your doorstep does not overly diminish the financial recompense you’re owed.